This invention relates to safety features for cigarette lighters fueled by compressed or liquified gas.
Disposable and refillable butane lighters have caused numerous deaths, personal injuries, and extensive property damage due to the fact that such lighters have been so designed that small children have been capable of igniting them. The typical gas butane lighter has a reservoir connected to a valve and nozzle on one side of the lighter, a spark producing wheel mounted substantially in the middle portion of the top of the lighter and a valve actuator mounted on an opposite side adjacent to the spark producing wheel. A flame is created by rotating the spark producing wheel and immediately or simultaneously depressing the valve actuator. This may be accomplished by children, either intentionally or inadvertently such as when the sparking wheel is rolled on a surface to generate sparks.
An alternate design of a butane lighter utilizes a piezoelectric sparking circuit which is activated as the valve actuation lever is depressed. These lighters are also susceptible to misuse by children in that the ignition occurs by the simple depression of a single lever or push button.
Several U.S. patents disclose safety features for these types of lighters. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,784,601 and 4,784,602 to Nitta disclose slidable stoppers that prevent the depression of the "thumb push gas lever" when the stoppers are in the obstructing position.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,758,152 to Kordecki discloses a pivotal bar that pivots to obstruct the depression of the gas lever.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,786,248 discloses a thumb latch that operates to prevent depression of the thumb pusher of a piezoelectric lighter. U.S. Pat. No. 4,832,596 also discloses a stop member slidably mounted on a conventional disposable butane lighter for releasing the gas actuating lever.
The devices described in the above patents all utilize some type of safety latch or member to obstruct or prevent depression of the valve actuator lever. A disadvantage of most of these lighters is that said devices allow the lighters to be placed in an "unlocked" or operational mode immediately after ignition. A user may, in essence, cock the lighters after use to be ready for the next use. In such a situation the lighter effectively becomes a conventional lighter without the child resistant feature.